Alex GriffingMay 12th, 2026, 6:39 pm

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) expressed surprise on Tuesday regarding a fabricated quote attributed to him that President Donald Trump shared on his Truth Social account.

Trump shared a screenshot from a social media user named “JOSH DUNLAP,” who wrote, “U.S. Senator John Kennedy is now publicly demanding that Barack Hussein Obama return $120 million that he allegedly earned through ownership related to ‘Obamacare.’” The post added:

“He allocated money under his own laws using taxpayer-generated prestige,” Kennedy said, calling it “an abuse of public office and blatant influence.”

Obama has three days to respond before John Kennedy says the matter will be referred to the Department of Justice for formal review.

“There’s nothing ethical or legal about this,” Kennedy added.

Kennedy was asked about the fake quote by NOTUS. “Somebody told me there was something floating around on the internet about me accusing President Obama of stealing $120 million or something. I didn’t say that. I don’t know the basis of it,” added the Louisiana Republican, who is a close ally of Trump.

CNN fact checker Daniel Dale hammered Trump over his morning of bonkers social media posts, writing, “It’s hard to explain just how detached from reality President Trump’s conspiracy-theory-filled social media posting spree last night and this morning was.”

Dale dug into the Kennedy post and explained the origins of the fake quote:

One easy example: The president shared a completely made-up and frankly nonsensical “quote” about former President Obama the post attributed to GOP Sen. John Kennedy. The fake quote originated with a “satire” website, basically a fakery factory, that invents stories to be shared by online conservatives; per the fact-check website Lead Stories, versions of this particular fake quote have been wrongly attributed to everyone from Kash Patel to Madonna.

Trump has long accused the news media of promoting “fake stories,” while personally having a well-documented history of lying or pushing misleading claims. The Washington Post kept a record of Trump’s misleading claims during his first term in office, which totalled to “30,573 over 4 years.”

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!